Some Peculiarities of the Representation of the Manipulative Potential of the Discourse Personality of a Teenager in the American Communicative Space

Kirichenko Natalia Rostislavovna PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages ¹ 2, Irkutsk National Research Technical University 664071, Russia, g. Irkutsk, ul. Lermontova, 83 nkirichenko@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

In anthropocentrically oriented modern linguistics, the study of the speaker's personality is recognized as a priority branch, which allows us to show a variety of complex dynamic processes that reveal the pragmatic functions of socialization and identification. A discursive personality manifests itself in any communicative event through the selection of certain stratagems and communication tactics, as well as linguistic means that implement the chosen strategies and tactics. It is in the discourse that the ontology of the linguistic personality manifests itself. Through social interactions, semantic modes are realized, and manipulative potential is manifested in an interactive context.  The relevance of the study is due to the importance of describing certain types of linguistic personality and the manifestation of the discursive personality of a teenager in the context of speech activity in different discursive formations. The appeal to youth communication is relevant, since adolescent discourse is a reliable and indicative marker of the current state of society and language.

The object of the study is a set of linguistic means of implementing discursive strategies and tactics used by a teenager in communicative interaction in order to exert a manipulative influence on the interlocutor. The subject of the study is the peculiarities of the functioning and interaction of verbal and non-verbal means of manipulative discourse as one of their characteristics of the discursive personality of a teenager. The methodological basis of the research is presented by descriptive-comparative, contextual and situational-interpretative methods of discourse research. The quantitative analysis method was used to obtain reliable data.   The research material was the American TV series "Gossip Girl" (The Gossip Girl), based on the eponymous series of novels by Cecily von Ziegesar. It is a television teen drama consisting of six seasons, with a total of 121 episodes.

The aim of the work is to identify the distinctive features of the adolescent's speech behavior as a discursive personality in the process of implementing manipulative strategies and tactics, taking into account the age and gender characteristics of the speakers.

Since the end of the last century, with the development of anthropology as a new direction in linguistics, the phenomenon of linguistic personality has become one of the central concepts. When placing a linguistic personality within the framework of the paradigm of discursive research, the concept of a discursive personality appears ^[18]. We agree with the opinion of V.P. Konetskaya, who considers the concept of a "discursive personality" to be broader than the concept of a "linguistic personality", since a person's speech behavior is a direct reflection of his personality, and a person is considered as a person in discourse, that is, a discursive personality ^[5]. Thus, a discursive personality is a multifaceted concept capable of using other semiotic codes in addition to the language code (linguistic personality), determined by the type of discursive relationships in which it is located. At the present stage of the development of linguistics, many studies have been accumulated on the linguistic personality in various spheres of communicative situations. At different times, linguistic personalities became the object of research based on the material of different languages: a doctor ^[1], a media personality ^{[2, 3]}, a sports commentator ^[7]. J.P. Gee, A. Allen, K. Clinton, ^[15], Chabanenko M.G. ^[10], Nazarova L.A. ^[6], Sokolova P.I. ^[9] addressed the study of the discursive personality of a teenager on the material of different languages. The discursive personality of a teenager was studied on the material of social networks ^{[12, 16, 17]}. A. Bova and F. Arcidiacono devoted an article to argumentative communication strategies of adolescents and parents ^[14]. The communicative dyad "teenager-teenager" is considered in their article by Chinese authors Wanyu Amy Ou and Mingyue Michelle Gu ^[20], and the dyad "teenager-adult" by Indian authors Samrat Bisai and Smriti Singh ^[13]. Nevertheless, the study of the speech activity of the discursive personality of a teenager on the material of television series has not been conducted in Russian Germanistics, which explains the novelty of this study.

Adolescent discourse is a reflection of a discursive personality, reconstructed from natural texts produced by it, in which manipulative behavior is manifested ^[19]. With the help of speech manipulation through the use of a complex of verbal and non-verbal means of communication, the teenager establishes a dominant position over the interlocutor.

Following M.N. Koveshnikova, by speech manipulation we mean the type of any secret speech influence on the participants of communication, in order to change the intentions, relationships or states that exist at the addressee at the moment ^[4]. Speech manipulation is thus aimed at changing the position of the addressee in the interests of the sender of the message. To achieve the goal, the speaker can use any level of the language structure, and often a set of planned and achievement-oriented moves implemented in interaction.

To obtain valid results, the analysis of verbal and non-verbal interaction in the implementation of the manipulation strategy was carried out in the dyads "teenager-teenager" and "teenager-adult", taking into account age and gender characteristics.

The analysis of factual material in "teen-teen" situations allows us to identify the following dominant communication strategies and tactics: threat, blackmail, promise of reward, calls for empathy. The listed tactics are implemented through the use of the author's invasive and suggestive means of speech influence. Let's take an example:

But before we continue the renovation, martini. Blair gave her a glass of martini. “On, no, thanks. I don’t like vodka,” Jenny declined. “Oh, that’s nice, because this is jin, little Jenny.” Blair looked at the girl and smiled. Jenny awkwardly took the glass. “It’s our party, Jenny. Either swallow that or swipe your MetroCard back home. It’s up to you.” Blair old her. “Blair.” Alex gave her a look. “What? Doesn’t she want to be like us? Hang out with us? She’s gonna have to make choices.” Blair told Alex. Jenny then took a sip. (Secrets. Nate Archibald) [https://www.wattpad.com/853380967-secrets-nate-archibald-1-dare-devil/page/2]

The girls are spending time at a party. One of the girls, Blair, tries to get Jenny to try alcohol. In the given example, the tactics of blackmail are implemented. The manipulative teenager Jen resorts to using statements of increased categoricality (swipe your MetroCard back), and using the union either...or enhances the effect of emotional pressure. Effective in this case is the method of relying on belonging to a group: It's our party, Doesn't she want to be like us? Hang out with us? – the personal pronoun "we" enhances the feeling of belonging to a certain group, creating a positive image of "one's own". The use of little Jenny's emotively colored vocabulary is aimed at intimating the presentation, which helps to establish closer contact with the addressee. In this example, non-verbal means of manipulation are also involved. Super-distinctive characteristics, such as emphase, expressed through the tone of voice and smile, also have a significant impact on the interlocutor. The effectiveness of the manipulative strategy is reflected in the behavior of the recipient of Jenny then took a sip.

Another effective tactic is the tactic of appealing to the empathic side of the addressee, evoking a feeling of compassion or empathy:

“This world is crazy and you are a part of it.” Den doesn’t want to continue their conversation. “Wait… you didn’t know it before, poor Den?” Serena is surprised and grins. “I did, but I thought you were different.” Den explains quietly. “Well, I’m sorry” Serena sobs. “I’m not the one who you thought I was but what’s happened is in the past…but if you can’t accept it then you know, you are not who I thought you were, go on and leave me alone.” Serena turns back to the hotel and walks away furiously [Gossip Girl, S01_E04, 24.09-24.58].

In the example above, Dan is trying to break off a relationship with a girl, Serena. Serena tries to stop him. In this case, the manipulator is a girl. As verbalized means, Serena turns to syntactic means using the construction of a complex sentence with a causal relationship: if you can't ... then you are not. But since the manipulative potential of verbal expression does not have the proper influencing power, the girl resorts to kinetic non-verbal means - Serena sobs, Serena turns back to the hotel and walks away furiously.

The format of teen-to-teen communication differs from communication with adults. A teenager is at the bottom of the age vertical and it is often easier for an adult to recognize a child's manipulative strategies. During the analysis, the following tactics were identified: imposing a sense of guilt, appealing to an external referent.

Let's consider the dyad "teenager-adult" with specific examples. Emotional interactions are often characterized by manifestations of negative emotions, which are explicated on a non-verbal level by prosodic (cry, shout, scream, sob, yell, say furiously, raise the voice, answer irritably) and proxemic (turn back, shut the door, walk away angrily) means. The more difficult it is for a teenager to manipulate an adult, the more emotional he becomes. A teenage girl, in a conversation with an adult from the nuclear zone of a discursive environment (her mother), with the help of offensive comments, achieves dominance in the communication process:

“Serena, come on. Hurry up. You're gonna be late.” Mom shouted from another room. “I am! And I never knew how caring you are.” Serena answered irritably, “What's going on with you and Blair?” Mom wondered. “Do you have one maternal bone in your entire body? It's ivy week. And if I can get out of this hotel room, it's my sole mission in life to impress Brown Rep.” The girl raised her voice. “Stop asking! Look, mom, I've had my mind on a lot of things. But you have never been interested, right?” Serena tried to offend Mom. ''How, um, how did you leave things with Dan?” Mom seemed to not be bothered. “I don't want to talk about it! Mom, please! Look, all I wanna do is just finish high school in peace and go away to a state with lots of people who don't know who I am and just start over, okay? Let me do this.” Serena screamed and almost ran away from her Mom [Gossip Girl, S01_E010, 9.08-10.11]

In this example, the girl uses the tactic of verbal insinuation, imposing guilt, with the phrase But you have never been interested, right? trying to hurt his mother. By making the mother feel guilty, the teenager implements an authoritarian style of behavior.  In addition, Serena turns to a very simple but effective method of changing the topic of conversation with a counter question. The authoritarian style of communication is reflected in the directive structures of Stop asking! Look, mom.

Analyzing the gender characteristics of adolescent manipulativism, we came to the conclusion that there were no significant differences in the implementation of the tactics of imposing guilt or appealing to the empathic side of the addressee. When expressing disagreement with the point of view of the interlocutor, young people are more categorical in defending their position than girls. They use more syntactic repetitions and negative-exclamation sentences. 

Thus, in the course of the conducted research, the following patterns were revealed. The dyad "teenager-teenager" is characterized by a communication format, which is characterized by prosodic non-verbal means of communication, raising the voice, changing the tonality. Emotively colored words, dialogization and intimization of communication using personal pronouns, an abundance of constructions with conjunctions either...or, as well as complex subordinate sentences with a causal relationship, have an influencing force.

An authoritarian style of behavior is implemented in the "teenager-adult" format. A teenager is attracted to various non-verbal components of a prosodic and proxemic nature. When interacting with adults, a teenager often uses rhetorical questions or exclamations, short emotional objections.

An analysis of the behavior of the discursive personality of a teenager allows us to conclude that his communicative influence always has a result, although not necessarily successful for himself. In parenteral discourse, when communicating with adults, most often a teenager does not achieve the desired result. The pragmatic and communicative characteristics of the discursive personality of a teenager allow us to classify it as a conflict type (according to the classification of K.F. Sedov ^[8]). Moreover, when communicating with peers, he acts as a manipulator, whose communicative intentions are realized through manipulation of communicants, and when communicating with adults, he acts as a conflict aggressor, openly expressing his hostility.